Something Blue
by BroadwayBaggins
Summary: Set in the "Something Borrowed" universe. Sybil and Tom's wedding day finally arrives...but not exactly as planned. Written as a birthday present for Yankee Countess!


**Author's Note: This fic takes place in the same universe as "Something Borrowed", basically a continuation of the epilogue. Happy birthday to Sharon (yankeecountess) and a big thank you to cassiemortmain who helped me brainstorm ideas for this fic! Happy birthday Sharon!**

* * *

_I can feel your heart beat through my shirt_

_This was all I wanted, all I want_

_It's all I want_

_Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back_

_It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind_

_Only love_

-"Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol

* * *

It seemed to Sybil that, in one way or another, something was always destined to go wrong at a Crawley wedding.

Her parents still told the story of the vicar's sleeve catching fire accidentally at Robert's sister Rosamund's wedding, how they had all stood in shocked silence when the best man, in a fit of panic, had seized the man's arm and dunked it straight in the baptismal font to extinguish the flames. It was Violet who had eventually broken the silence, with a rather unladylike snort of what might have been laughter and a firm order to "Get on with it, then, now that all the excitement's gone." At Robert and Cora's own wedding, there had been a mixup with the bakery who they had commissioned to do the cake, resulting in the guests munching on 250 cupcakes at the reception instead. More recently, at Matthew and Mary's wedding the year before, the revelation of a family secret had resulted in the groom chasing the best man out of the church (and later getting into a fight with him that both Sybil and Tom had thrown their own fair share of punches in). Months later, people who hadn't been able to attend the festivities would wonder to themselves why Larry Grey, formerly a close family friend of the Crawleys, disappeared entirely from the wedding photos later on…and why the groom and the _new_ best man both were inexplicably sporting black eyes to go with their beaming smiles in each and every photo…

It was a funny coincidence, really, something to laugh about even as Sybil hoped and prayed that her and Tom's wedding would go off without a similar mishap. Surely, three weddings later, the Crawley family had used up their quota of embarrassing incidents, right? A fire, a cake fiasco, half the wedding party missing…and now…

"What do you _mean,_ you can't find the priest?!"

Try as Sybil might to keep her voice under control, she couldn't help the little squeak that came out at the end. Matthew stood in the doorway, looking guilty, as Mary crossed her arms and waited for an explanation from her husband. Across the room, Edith and Anthony's daughter Elizabeth giggled as if this was all one big joke.

"Um…I mean just that. We can't find the priest. He was supposed to be here about forty five minutes ago, but no one seems to know where he's got to. He…" Matthew looked up from his current occupation of staring at the floor and seemed to shrink back away from the intense gaze of his wife and sister-in-law. "He doesn't, erm…appear to be picking up his mobile…"

Mary turned away, resisting the urge to massage her temples and ruin the updo that Anna had just finished painstakingly arranging her hair into. "You're telling me," she said, her voice quiet but strained, "that we are here, at the church on my sister's wedding day, all set to go…and the man who is supposed to _perform the ceremony_ is nowhere to be found?"

Matthew looked pale. "That's about the size of it."

Mary took a deep breath, clearly about to either launch into some sort of tirade or organize a search party for the wayward priest herself, but Sybil stood up, abandoning Anna and crossing the room to her sister. "Mary, relax," she said, her voice a calm contrast to her older sister's. "I'm sure it's just some kind of misunderstanding. He's bound to turn up eventually…"

In spite of herself, Mary chuckled. "You're the bride," she remarked, looking Sybil up and down, pride shining in her eyes as she took in the beautiful but simplistic strapless wedding gown Sybil had chosen. "You're the bride, and the man who's supposed to be marrying you and Tom has gone AWOL. Aren't _you_ supposed to be the one who's freaking out?"

"Probably," Sybil agreed with a laugh of her own. "But as my maid of honor it's your job to make sure everything goes off without a hitch, so maybe we can chalk this up to you just trying to do your job? It's all going to be fine, Mary. He's probably just caught in traffic or something. So let's just all take a deep breath and relax, okay? I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Matthew will just tell everyone to keep an eye out for him, right?"

"Right!" Matthew said quickly, flashing his wife and sister-in-law a winning smile that he hoped didn't betray his own nervousness. Something in the back of his mind told him that there might be a real issue with the missing priest, but he didn't want to alarm the Crawley women before he had to. Even now Violet, sitting quietly in the back observing the proceedings, was giving him a curious look, and he knew that of all the women in the room he couldn't successfully lie to her if he tried. "I'll try calling again too. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll get right on that…you look beautiful, Sybil, by the way," he added on the way out, and Sybil gave him a radiant smile in response. Maybe things would work out fine after all…

"So, the Catholic priest has vanished," Violet remarked, her tone unreadable. "If I believed in omens…"

"Now, Granny, don't be like that," Sybil admonished lightly. Her family adored Tom, thankfully, but the real battle after he had proposed had been convincing them that the ceremony was to be held in the Catholic church, in celebration of Tom's faith rather than hers. Neither of them were particularly religious, but Tom was mostly doing it for his mother's benefit, and Sybil saw nothing wrong with the idea. "Everything's going to be just fine. Wait and see."

But as the minutes wore on, even Sybil began to get slightly nervous. She found herself glancing to the door, waiting for Matthew or her father or one of Tom's siblings to come rushing in to assure her that all was well, that the priest had just gotten stuck in a little traffic jam but had arrived in plenty of time to do the ceremony. Her palms started to sweat, and every moment that passed with no word made her heart beat even faster in her chest. Her mother and sisters tried to soothe her, reassuring her as she had done to Mary only an hour before, but even they seemed to be losing hope as well. Without the priest, there could be no wedding. It was as simple as that.

"This man _does_ have the right day, doesn't he?" Violet asked, her voice brisk and clipped as she leaned on her cane. "He doesn't mistakenly think we've booked the church for _next_ weekend, doesn't he?"

"He has the right date, Granny!" Sybil snapped, her hands shaking, suppressing the urge to bury her face in them and pretend that her wedding day wasn't threatening o fall apart around her.

"Sybil, I'm sure everything's fine," Cora cut in, rushing to place her hands on her daughter's shoulders in a futile attempt to calm her. "Come on, it's a Crawley wedding, after all. There has to be _some_ little hitch. I'm sure he'll turn up. He's probably just—"

At that moment, the door swung open. Matthew stood in the doorway, looking far more pale—and slightly sweatier—than he had the last time he'd popped in to give them an update. Behind him, just over Matthew's shoulder, stood Tom looking equally bewildered, and Sybil had to fight the urge to hide behind her mother so that he wouldn't see her in her dress before he was supposed to. "I…" Matthew began, seeming unsure of what to say. "There's…there's been a bit of an accident…"

There was a seemingly endless silence before all the Crawley women began to talk at once.

* * *

It took some time, but Matthew and Tom were finally able to explain the situation and calm everyone as much as they could. By this time, Robert had wandered over to see what all the commotion was about, and little by little the story unfolded. As it turned out, the priest _had_ been stuck in traffic—until he had suddenly been rear-ended and propelled into another car. Matthew assured them that no one had been seriously hurt—it seemed that the priest might have a broken rib or two, and had a possible concussion that meant he was in need of a hospital visit and further examination. In other words, there was no way that he was going to be able to make it to the church on time…meaning that the fate of the entire wedding seemed to be hanging in the balance.

Of course, being the Crawley family, everyone seemed to have a different solution to the problem at hand. Matthew and Mary had immediately suggested trying to find another priest, but the fact that it was such short notice made that task nearly impossible. Robert, eager to help—and perhaps more eager to remove his daughter's nuptials as far from this particular church as possible, had offered to phone up Reverend Travis back at the church at Downton and see if the wedding could possibly be relocated there instead. This plan, to his chagrin, had hit a snag when Reverend Travis had informed him that he was already officiating another wedding there this afternoon, and there would be no openings for several weeks. Now, Tom had abandoned his post by the doorway and sat next to Sybil, holding her hand tightly as she watched her family bicker over what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Robert was saying, shaking his head. "Really, you're all making a bigger deal of this than it is. It really isn't the end of the world, and the answer has been staring us in the face the whole time. It's clearly the most sensible option. Everyone will understand, once we explain the situation. We'll just send everyone home, and do this again at the church at Downton, just like Mary and Matthew did. It's a Crawley family tradition, after all. It's really the best solution for everyone—the most convenient, really, after making them wait half the day for a wedding that clearly is not going to take place today..."

"How can you say that, Papa?" Sybil burst out, unable to hold back her own opinions any longer. "More convenient for who? For you, sure, but Tom has family here from Ireland! He can't—we can't just ask them to drop everything and fly back out here again in a few weeks time! It isn't fair, Papa!"

"Now, don't be ridiculous, Sybil. There's no need to fly into hysterics. We all have to make sacrifices sometimes, and—"

Cora sighed and cut him off, looking from her daughter to her husband desperately. "Sybil's right, Robert. They've traveled all this way…we can't just postpone the wedding like this. Not on such short notice."

"Well, what do you suggest we do, Cora?" Robert asked, his voice raising just slightly, clearly exasperated. "We have no one to perform the ceremony. So unless you have any ideas—"

"Shouting at each other isn't going to do any good!" Matthew cut in, sounding as fed up as the rest of them. "We have to think about this rationally. Now, I agree with Sybil that a few weeks is too long to wait to reschedule…but I don't see how we can get it done any sooner…"

Sybil squeezed Tom's hand as she felt his other run soothing circles up and down her back, trying to offer whatever comfort he could. He had been surprisingly silent during this debate, only speaking up to remind everyone of the distance his family had traveled to be here today. He clearly was in no mood to ruffle anyone's feathers, and Sybil loved him for that..but now, with their perfect day falling apart around her, she wasn't sure if there was anything anyone can do.

"Mind if I cut in?" A familiar American voice asked, and suddenly Martha poked her head into the room. Sybil sighed quietly, not sure if the addition of her other grandmother was going to make the situation better or worse. _The way this day is going, probably worse…_

"Grandma, what have you been up to all this time?" Edith asked curiously, picking up her daughter and propping her up on her hip, where she bounced her lightly. Little Elizabeth was the only one who seemed unperturbed by the events of the day, and Sybil envied her.

Martha sighed dramatically, giving a wave of her hand. "Damage control," she said wearily. "Having to explain to a hundred wedding guests what the holdup is turned out to be no easy task, my dear. But, luckily, I think I may have found a solution to your problems." She grinned, stepping back from the doorway to reveal another figure.

Sybil stared. "_Thomas?_" she asked incredulously.

The dark-haired man grinned as he sauntered into the room. Thomas had been the bartender at Mary's bachelorette party the year before, but after the wedding he had struck up a friendship with Sybil and Tom. They had invited him to the wedding, but he had never responded, leaving them to believe that he wouldn't be coming. Sybil jumped up and gave him a brief hug, blinking back tears, feeling so overwhelmed it almost hurt. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Wouldn't miss it," Thomas replied with a grin. "And apparently, it's a good job I did turn up, because I've come to save the day."

"How do you mean?" Sybil asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

Thomas grinned broadly. "I'm going to marry you," he announced, his voice proud.

For a moment there was only silence, and then…

"Have you lost your _mind?"_

The words slipped out before Sybil could stop them, so loudly that she heard Tom get to his feet behind her as well. Her friend, however, only smirked, giving her a shrug. "Went online and got ordained a few years ago for the hell of it," he said breezily. "Figured it might come in handy some day, and it turns out I was right. So, I'll do the ceremony. Easy as that. No need to worry."

"You can do that?" Mary asked, sounding intrigued in spite of herself. Next to her, Cora looked confused but thoughtful, while the expression on Robert's face was rather like he'd swallowed a lemon. "I mean, is it—"

"Is it legally binding?" Robert cut in. "The last thing we want is to bend over backwards trying to accommodate everyone only to find out that it was all for nothing. No offense," he added after a moment, with a cursory glance in Thomas' direction.

"None taken," was the response, although Thomas' tone said otherwise. "It's perfectly legal. Anyone who's ordained can sign a marriage license. The rest is just smoke and mirrors—_no offense,_" Thomas drawled, a smirk lighting up his features. Robert looked embarrassed. "It's perfectly legal and binding. And it seems to me like it's your best bet—if you want to get married today, that is." He looked to Sybil and Tom, who now stood holding hands and looking rather lost. "What do you say, you two?"

The couple exchanged glances, clearly hesitating. Sybil bit her lip. It was so tempting, especially after all the stress of today. She wanted to be married to Tom so badly, and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to wait a couple of weeks to have the ceremony like her father seemed to want so badly. But at the same time, it was so different than how she had imagined her wedding day to be that she wasn't sure if this was what she wanted. "I don't know, Thomas…" she began, her voice unsure. "It's a generous offer, and we really appreciate it…"

"Finally, someone's starting to see reason," Robert mumbled.

Thomas rolled his eyes, but it was Sybil's fiancée who spoke. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded. "Look, I know this day isn't exactly going according to plan, but this is still our wedding day. Sybil and I are going to do whatever we think is right, okay? We're not going to put our lives on hold just to please you. I'm sorry if this doesn't fit into your perfect image of what your daughter's wedding day would look like, but you don't get to decide these things for us. We do. All that matters is that we love each other, and we want to be together for the rest of our lives. All the rest of it—the priest, the big fancy church wedding…the rest is detail." He turned to Sybil, taking her hands in his and bringing them to his lips, kissing each in turn. "Right?" he whispered.

"Right," Sybil replied.

"We've each written our own vows anyway. We can still say them, and Thomas can marry us. If you want. All you have to do is say yes…if that's what you want." Tom smiled down at her. "I don't want to push you."

"You're not," Sybil responded immediately. She looked over to the rest of them, still clutching Tom's hands tight in hers. "We'll do it."

* * *

After Sybil's decision had been made (thankfully, Robert seemed too stunned by Tom's standing up to him to protest too much) everyone dispersed, letting the guests know of the change of plans and trying to finish up the last-minute preparations. Edith whisked Thomas away to "fix that ridiculous bow tie, for God's sake, are you twelve?" and Tom went to give the news to his family. Finally, it was just Sybil in the room, holding her bouquet in her hands and gazing at her reflection in the mirror. Her dress was simple but fit her like a glove, her veil small and not too showy. It wasn't anything fancy or elaborate, but it was perfect for the two of them…just like the ceremony was going to be. Sybil was sure of it.

There was a knock at the door, and Sybil turned. "Come in." To her surprise, though, it was not her mother or Mary who strode in but Tom, looking amused. "I thought you were mama."

"Last I saw her she was on the phone with the caterers for the reception. How are you holding up?" he asked, drawing her into his embrace and kissing the top of her head. In spite of herself, Sybil felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

"I'm fine," she whispered. And she was. She hoped.

"It's almost kind of funny, when you think about it," Tom remarked with a chuckle, clearly still trying to make her feel better. "Considering that we met when _you_ crashed into _my_ car…"

In spite of herself, she let out a tearful bubble of laughter. "That's horrible."

"Horrible, no. Amazingly ironic? I'd say so."

"How is your mother taking the news?" she asked softly, changing the subject. The last thing she needed was for Mrs. Branson to be as disapproving of their new plan as her father and grandmother were. "About the change of plans?"

"Surprisingly well, once I explained to her that it's basically our only choice. She just made me promise that we'd hold a vow renewal ceremony—presided over by an _actual_ member of the church—as soon as possible." Tom grinned, reaching over to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Sybil's ear. "So that's good news, right?"

Sybil sniffed, reaching up to brush her tears away with the back of her hand and hoping she didn't smear her mascara too badly. The last thing she needed today was raccoon eyes on top of everything else. "I guess so," she admitted. "I just…I didn't think that…This isn't how I planned for this to go," she whispered, sounding defeated. She almost had to fight the urge to laugh once again, it was all so absurd. "We have no priest, our families are about one disaster away from coming to blows, _Thomas_ is marrying us…and I'm standing here talking to you in my dress and we're not even married yet! You're not supposed to see me…"

Tom chuckled then, soft and light and not meant to hurt her in the slightest as he took her hands in his own. "Sybil Patricia Crawley," he said, looking down into her eyes. "We met when you brutally rear-ended me in the middle of a crowded intersection and then an hour later you hired me to pretend to be your boyfriend for a weekend. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say we are _anything_ but traditional."

Now Sybil laughed for real. "You're probably right about that."

"Sybil, I'd marry you in a courthouse or in the middle of a field if I had to. However today turns out, love, it _is_ going to be perfect. Because it's our wedding day. I've wanted to do this since you hired me."

"Me too."

Tom grinned. "Then let's go get married."

When the church doors opened to reveal Sybil, the guests forgot about the delay and the change of plans, and the unusual circumstances of the wedding.

When the first chords of the instrumental version of "A Whole New World" reached their ears, and they turned to see the radiant bride walking down the aisle towards her future, there was not a doubt in anyone's mind that this was how it had been meant to be all along. Her eyes never once left Tom as her father escorted her down the aisle, not an ounce of nervousness on her face. She simply looked happy, and so in love that more than a few guests felt tears spring to their eyes at the sight of her. Tom was grinning from ear to ear, unable to look away from his bride. Robert kissed his daughter's cheek and went to take his seat as Tom took her hands, looking up at Thomas as the ceremony began.

"Dearly beloved…"

When it came time for the couple to say the vows that they had written, Sybil's cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling so much, and tears were shining in her eyes. Tom began first, his voice trembling with emotion for just a moment before slowly growing steadier. "Sybil Crawley…from the moment I met you, it's been an adventure." He winked, just for her to see, and Sybil felt her smile only grow wider. "We've never been the most traditional of couples—we know that better than anyone. But I wouldn't change a single second of our relationship. We may not have the same story everyone else does, but it's our story. And we're not done writing it yet. And Sybil, from this day forward, I promise to devote every waking minute to your happiness."

"Tom," Sybil began when it was her turn, not even bothering to hide the tears in her voice. "We've been through so much together, you and I. I love you so much…and I can't wait for what's still to come. I'm ready to travel…" She looked up at him, her smile turning more tender. "And you, Tom Branson, you're my ticket."

And as the rings were slipped on the happy couple's fingers and their lips met in their first kiss as husband and wife, Sybil knew that Tom had been right. It was not a traditional wedding, nor was it the wedding that she had envisioned. But it was _theirs,_ and that made it perfect.

_**The End**_


End file.
